How To Format Wd Elements For Mac
IsWD Elements Compatible with Mac?
If you can see it in Disk Management, just right-click on it and choose Format. You should get all of the available space. Step 7: From the Volume Format menu, choose Mac OS Extended. Step 8: Enter a name for the external hard drive in the Name field. Step 9: Click the Erase button. How to Reformat in Windows. Step 1: Plug your external hard drive into your computer. Step 2: If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next step. Basically the number of partitions and their storage capacity is totally up to your personal preference and needs. As for using a the HDD with both Mac OS X and Windows you have 2 options - FAT32 and exFAT. Both file systems are natively supported with read/write functions on both operating systems.
And therelated question can you use your WD Elements on a Mac?
The answeris yes. Your WD Elements drive can work great on your Mac.
But thereare a couple of things you need to know and do to get it set up just fine.
You’lllearn here the things you need to know about using your WD Elements for Mac.
And some ofthe potential pitfalls.
Plugging in your WD Elements USB Cable into your Mac
Your WD Elements portable hard drive has a USB 3.0 type A connection to your Mac.
Why is thatimportant?
Is your Macan iMac 2017 or later? Or MacBook Pro 2016 or newer?
Or MacBookAir 2018?
If youranswer is yes then your Mac will have a USB C (Thunderbolt) port on it.
You’ll beable to use your WD Elements drive. But you will need an adaptor to plug theUSB cable from your Elements drive into your Mac.
Theseadaptor cables are easy to get from Amazon.
And shouldyour Mac be an older Mac with USB 2.0.
Yourfine.
The USBcable provided will fit. And your WD elements drive will work at USB 2.0 speedto match your Mac.
You’ve Plugged in and WD Elements not Showing up on Mac?
You’ve loggedin and connected up your WD Elements external hard drive on your Mac. You wereexpecting to see the drive icon on the desktop.
But it’snot there?
The firstthing to check is your Finder Window Preferences.
Open up afinder window. Go to preferences.
In thefinder preferences pop up window be sure you’ve checked the ‘Hard Drive’ and ‘ExternalDrive’ boxes.
Then yourWD Elements external drive’s icon should appear.
What if your WD Elements is Still not Showing up on Mac?
Using Your WD Elements On Mac?
Your WDElements drive is bus powered.
What doesthat mean?
It meansthat your Elements drive takes its power from your Mac. Your USB cable bothpowers your Elements drive. And transfers your documents backwards andforwards.
Great. Becauseyou don’t have to worry about carrying another power plug and its cable aroundwith you. Particularly when you take your Elements drive out and about withyour Mac.
But becauseyour WD Elements drive gets its power from your Mac check your Mac is chargedenough. Or plug in your Mac so that your Mac doesn’t run out of power part waythrough a large transfer of files.
Is Your WDElements Drive Read Only on your Mac?
When shipped to you your Western Digital Elements drive is in a format called NTFS. NTFS is a PC format that a Windows PC uses. Your Mac can see and read your NTFS Elements drive.
But whenyou want to put documents on the drive, or update any files on the drive yourMac says no. You can only read your Elements external hard drive.
Don’t fretyou can change the formatting. Byreformatting your WD Elements for your Mac.
How do IFormat WD Elements for Mac?
To use yourWD Elements drive on your Mac you need your Elements drive in HFS+ format. Thisformatting is also known as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. Don’t worry about the name.
Just know that this is a file system that your Mac uses for a Time Machine backup.
And if youwant to copy and paste files.
Or drag anddrop files from your Mac onto your WD Elements drive.
It’s theformat you use when you want to use your WD Elements drive just for yourMac. Because a Windows PC can’t see aHFS+ drive when it’s plugged in.
To set upyour WD Elements drive to work on your Mac you’ll need to format it for Mac.
You’ll find my article on how you format the WD Elements hard drive here.
Click overand in a few minutes you’ll have the formatting all done.
How Can YouUse Your WD Elements Drive without Reformatting?
Formattingwill erase any documents you have on your WD Elements drive. So if you’ve put files on there from yourWindows PC. And really what you want to do is use the drive without changinganything on there.
There issoftware you can use that leaves your Elements drive in NTFS formatting. Butmakes it read and writeable from your Mac.
It’s theoption to choose when you mainly use your WD Elements drive on your Windows PC.And sometimes you use your Elements drive on your Mac.
Using YourWD Elements Drive on Your Mac and a PC
Yes you canuse your WD Elements drive for both a Mac and a PC if you want.
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And particularlyif you want to use for both without using special software. And its easy to do.
You justconnect up your WD Elements drive to your Mac and format it to ExFAT.
There aresome articles around on the web suggesting FAT32. And yes you can set your Mac to format yourElements drive to FAT32. FAT32 is compatible with Mac and Windows. But thesedays the FAT32 file system is outdated, not as sturdy and has file sizerestrictions.
ExFAT is freelyread and writable by both your Mac and Windows PC. Both operating systems cansee an ExFAT file system. And use the files, photos, movies, music, in fact anyfiles that are on there.
You can find out how to Format your WD Elements external hard drive for Mac and PC using my article here.
Your WDElements Drive Not Working on Mac?
Havingproblems with your Western Digital Elements drive working. And then not workingon your Mac?
1. When you formatted your WD Elements did you check that the format scheme was ‘GUID Partition Map’? You’ll have problems with formatting the drive without setting the scheme right. Because NTFS is set up differently. And a set up hang over from NTFS will mean odd problems with your Elements drive.
2. You should try repairing your Elements drive in Disk Utility using the First Aid option. That may solve your problem.
If thedrive is in a poor state First Aid may well tell you to erase the drive.
Which meansstarting from scratch and loosing the files on there.
3. Did you download Drive Utilities from the Western Digital site onto your Mac?
Yes, DriveUtilities allows you to run a check on your WD Elements drive. And you can seeif the software reports any errors on the drive.
But didyour problems with the drive show up after you downloaded this software?
Check thatyour version of the Western Digital software is compatible with your Mac’soperating system.
You could haveproblems with your Mac OS clashing with the WD Drive Utilities software.
If you’reone of those having problems with your WD Elements drive working and then not.And for no real reason you can see. Then uninstall the Western DigitalUtilities.
You can dothat by using the WD Uninstaller in your Application’s folder. Vm fusion for mac.
And your onand off issues with your WD Elements drive should go away.
Why won’t MyWD Elements Drive Backup?
Having problemswith your Time Machine backups failing to your WD elements drive? This seems another type of conflict with theWD Disk Utilities software.
Check thesoftware version your using. Is it for your version of Mac OS?
Tryuninstalling the WD Disk Utilities. Then see if your Time Machine Backup issuesdisappear.
Last Words
Yes, WDElements is basic storage for your Mac. And it usually works great on Mac. Butif you have problems use my tips here. And have your WD Elements for Mac andlose your issues.
You candiscover other articles on the site all about your WD Elements drive.
Why notcheck them out.
July 17, 2015
There are certain situations when photographers need to connect their single external hard drive to multiple operating systems. Most of the times, professional photographers need to do this as they usually store their photo collection in external drive. On the other hand, a particulate type of operating system follows a single file format to store data in an internal or external hard drive. For example, if we talk about Windows users, then the file system should be NTFS, similarly with Mac owners it should be HFS.
Usually, both the formats are not compatible with each other, therefore when it comes to external hard drive, the user cannot use one storage drive on both the platforms. But this time, Western digital has introduced a range of portable hard drives named 'My Passport', which are designed for both Mac and Windows systems. These portable hard drives are shipped in preformatted or in the NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (Mac) format. In order to use the same drive on both the platforms, you need to format or reformat it using exFAT or FAT32 (DOS) format.
You have not take Backup before Formaating?You formatted your hard disk and afterwards you discover that you need some important data which were present in your Hard Disk. If you have a data backup in some other location then it is fine but if you have missed out your routine backup plan and suffered from data loss then recovery software is the only solution to retrieve back data from your formatted hard drive.
In Case of Mac System:
Download Stellar MAC Data Recovery Software to recover back data from your formatted hard drive.
Step 1
Connect your external hard disk to Mac OS X system
Step 2
Select the Stellar Mac data recovery icon to launch the software
Step 3
Click on the Start Scan button and go to the menu
Step 4
Here, select your external hard drive. You will see a list of methods available. Select the desired recovery option and click on the ‘Start Scan' option to proceed.
Step 5
After scanning the formatted external hard drive, it lists out all the files that can be recovered. You can select the needed files and select recover to recover back all the files.
In Case of Windows System:
Download Stellar Windows Data Recovery Software to recover data from your formatted Hard Drive.
Step 1:
Run the software
Step 2:
Under the ‘Data Recovery Tab, click on Drive Recovery. The formatted drive will be listed under ‘Drive Recovery‘. If it is not showing up then try to connect it externally using SATA/USB connector or directly into the motherboard.
Step 3:
Next, click on the formatted drive partition to select it. Once selected, you will get to see all data recovery options on the right hand side of the screen. Select the ‘Advanced Recovery’ and the suitable file system. (NTFS or FAT)
If you are looking for the lost or deleted hard drive partition, select the option ‘Select Hard Drive to Search Lost Volumes ‘under the same ‘Drive Recovery’ tab.
Step 4:
You will be able to see the scanning process in the next step and all the missing or deleted files on the screen.
Reformat Wd Easystore For Mac
Once scanning process is complete, a list of deleted files and folders is displayed on the screen. For recovery, you need to click on the check box to select the files for recovery.
Step 5
Wd Reformat For Mac
After you click on the recover option, all the selected images will be recovered to the desired location